Dr Kristina Mah (Renshi, 5th Dan Karate-ka; WKF karate world champion) is a martial artist, academic researcher, and creative artist. She has trained for over thirty years in Go-Ju Ryu karate and twenty years as an elite athlete representing Australia.
Kristina has recently shifted her focus to training in the internal arts. Kristina’s PhD focused on the theme of ‘compassion’ at the intersection of Buddhist philosophy and design and technology. She continues to work to integrate ancient wisdom traditions, emphasising embodied ways of knowing across varied contexts. Through diverse projects, including spiritual retreats and researching empathy in human computer interaction, Kristina aims to embed somatic, contemplative, and movement-based practices into research and practice, fostering self-cultivation and self-empowerment.
Kristina has organised the Lawudo Trek (lawudo-trek.org) since 2016 to raise money and awareness about Lawudo Gompa and Cave, a remote hermitage affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in the Everest region of Nepal and she served on the Vajrayana Institute Committee between 2016-2018. In April 2025, Kristina will lead her own trek and retreat, Jagariya (jagariya.com) that aims to immerse participants in principles that will be shared from this retreat.